floorboard removal

[burnt lumber]

hello everyone out there this is my first time i'm using this forum so please excuse the saw dust.i am currently renovating a 1928 calbung and looking for a way to remove the baltic pine floor boards which are in immaculate condition.could anybody tell me the best way to remvove the floorboards without damaging the tongue and groove and if there is a special tool i can use and where i can get it.cheers burnt lumber.

[Ashore]

Burnt Lumber welcome to the forum .
The forum has a terrific archive , on the red line running across this page , click on "search" and type in "removing floorboards" , this topic has been discussed a few times and I think you will find all the answers there

Rgds
Russell

[Gumby]

I'm trying to work out why you'd want to remove them if you are renovating the place :confused: Wouldn't you want to leave them there as originals ?

PS If you haven't got anything better to do on a Saturday night than make your first post on these forums, you are well and truly qualified to become a valued member

[Ramps]

What are we all doing on the forums at this hour on a Saturday night ... at least over this side of the world I can make up an excuse like waiting for the Toue de France or footy to start (the footy is on Sat night isn't it?) or something like that.

As far as removing floor boards ... I'm sure there is a pile of good info out there but the short answer is Yes there is a tool (or more ). the one I have used (you can hire them from a good hire shop) looks like a big "L" but at about 100 degrees instead of 90 degrees. Stands about waist high and has two pieces at the bottom of the L that straddle the joists. You knock out (waist) a couple to start the process, run a chainsaw down the ends as close to the walls as possible (they often run under the walls .... and if not are nailed to the joists near the walls) Then straddle a joist with the bottom bit and slide it under a couple of boards and gently, bit by bit work your way across the room and back again. You'll lose a few but I can normally recover at least 90% admittedly Jarrah floorboards.

Sh## that wasn't a short answer at all ... you'd better call me Wild Dingo

[Gumby]

What are we all doing on the forums at this hour on a Saturday night ... .

Watching the Golf

[Larry McCully]

Holy Mackeral!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I just had this vision of a crazed madman wheeling this buzzing chainsaw in the air with a evil grin and a glint in his eye about to disect a poor helpless , defenceless floor.

[echnidna]

Trouble with the chainsaw approach is that all the boards end up too short so you can't relay the floor as it was.

[bsrlee]

Firstly, take a good hard look at the fastenings. Mate of mine has a late 1800 terrace and one floor board in each section is screwed down rather than nailed & has no toungue - this is so you can lift it out at get at pipes & wiring below the floor.

The another method is to take off the skirting boards until you find out which side has the tongue, then carefully use a pry bar to pull up the boards from that side. I have also seen suggestions that you centre punch each nail & use a stub drill to drill out the nail heads which should let the nail pull thru' the board without enlarging the nail hole. Then you have to use a pretty good set of pliers to reef out the headless nail stub.

[Ramps]

Arr True, but then most people allow for some loss ... I'll be very surprised if there isn't some. If the boards aren't T&G on the ends then they often split at the ends. Often the boards around this side of the world are put down b4 the internal walls so unless you're going to remove the walls during the reno then you'll still have to cut them ... Can't remember how they built the CalBungs as I saw quite a few around Bendigo but wasn't into renovating them and admittedly I haven't pulled up Baltic .
Also found a tool that I wouldn't be without. The Extractor looks a bit like a big pair of multigrips but heaps better for pulling nails thru the boards from the pointy end ... also good for those headless nails that we find in recycled timber occassionally. Have a look at the site: http://www.nailextractor.com/index.html
and yes I did find them in a local tool shop (When I was in Perth).
Good luck

Eh wots the go:confused: ... the chainsaw is a precision tool ... I sharpened every "blade" on my three chains on the w/e (that darkside comin out in me again:eek: ) ... must have been well over 100 blades, + a curved block plane blade, not a bad w/e's work.

[echnidna]

Most of the cal bungalows were framed before the floor was fitted so they usually are not a problem likfting after you remove skirts and sometimes arcs.